Chasing Dog Tags
by MarkHoffman
Summary: Jo is a loner. Always has, always will be. All she wants now is to place first in track meets and graduate from high school unscathed. Unfortunately for her, she will meet a boy that will challenge her to be passionate in things beyond the track field.
1. Chapter 1

_Sunday:_

"Of all the days to rip my shoes, my good shoes, it had to be on the one morning there are puddles everywhere! I didn't think the shoes were that worn down, but I guess making that sharp turn around the corner during this morning's run said otherwise. "

The grade twelve high school jockette known as Jo was stalking herself towards the sports store several blocks away from where she currently was to get immediate replacements for her now unmatched set of tennis shoes. She would have ventured home and taken her car to the destination but decided that the walk back would take even longer.

After crossing houses, street lights, and even more puddles she eventually reached the parting doors of the sports store's entrance. Her damaged, water logged shoe leading the way. She browsed the aisles of the many goods with her mind set on heading towards the location for sport shoes, trying her best to ignore the squishing noises coming her waterlogged shoe. Each step causing a growing scowl from the girl.

"This is so humiliating! Maybe I should have gone home, if only to change out of these stupid shoes."

She cast a disgusted glance at her problem right shoe before, to her relief, finally making it towards the aisle of sport shoes.

The aisle was empty save for some crew cut guy, probably her age, with dog tags checking out the men's section. The girl began browsing the row opposite of the other occupant, the wet footsteps creating an undesired echo. The noise, Jo noticed, seemed to have caught Crewcut's attention.

"What are you looking at," she all but barked at the boy, already frustrated enough as it is. "Haven't seen girl buying shoes before?"

"N-no! Sorry Ma'am i was just- uh -do you need help?"

"No, I don't. I'm just fine"

"Oh...okay then."

Jo kept notice that the boy was still watching her. It was unnerving to have him just stare at her not only while browsing, but in the slightly undignified state she was in. She saw a pair of shoes to her liking a little out of arms reach but nonetheless tried (and failed) to reach her goal.

"Maybe you need help now?" The boy asked again even closer to her now now with a mildly apologetic face, approaching Jo cautiously in case she lashed out at him again. Jo, however, was mistaking his aid as a form of pity and was having none of it.

"Look, Crewcut, I said I'm fine! I just need a few more inches is all." She made one last attempt at the box above her, practically jumping for it. She growled at herself and turned sharply towards the boy next to her, scratching the back of his neck still looking eager to help her.

"Alright, you want to help Crewcut? Get over here and lift me up so I can reach." Jo casually stated. But to the other, it seemed to have the opposite effect from anything casual.

"Wha- Llft? As in…touch…you? Around the - gulp- waist? The boy sputtered. 'Is he…blushing?' the girl thought. 'oh, come on! I don't have time for this.'

"That's right Crewcut. What's wrong? Ever touched a girl before?"

"Well…I-I..." the boy stuttered nervously connecting his index fingers to each other.

"Whatever. Just get over here," Jo eyed the dog tags. "…soldier."

That seemed to motivate her aid to get his head in the game. He answered with a stern "Sir, yes sir." Whether he was playing along or he actually took the role of some cadet seriously Jo couldn't tell. He took a position behind a hunched Jo and waited for her command.

"Okay, now just grab me by my thighs and hoist me up."

"Right! Okay." The boy seemed to look lost as to how to go about it; all of his courage going out the window. "uhh…thighs, right." He wasn't sure what to do with his hands. Does he grab the lower or upper thighs? is he supposed to grip or use his palms to lift her up? This supposedly simple act was taking an emotional tole on him. He has never touched someone like that even if it was to assist them. He had never found himself in this situation before. The thought of touching someone as beautiful as this girl was preventing his mind from giving commands to his body.

"I'm dying of old age, Crewcut. You gonna help me or not?"

"Uh…Yes! I can do this. So…I just grab hold…" But he still made no move. There was a beat of silence,

"Just grab me!" Jo yelled out to the side. A couple passing by walked passed the aisle at that moment to hear Jo's exclamation and see the position they were in. They walked away muttering something about kids these days.

After another pause to gather the last fragments of his scattered courage, he just threw his hands around her trained thighs and lifted the girl up towards the top of the aisle.

Jo smiled as she was in distance with the shoe box. But as she took hold of the box she noticed the boy's grip loosen. She was lowering towards the ground again, but that wasn't what made her turn her attention away from her goal. Her body was lowering in his grip but the hands still tried to keep her up. She felt his hands move her sweatshirt up a little before his hands took hold of her hips to keep her up. But the loosened grip made her sink lower to the floor even more. Before long she could feel her sweatshirt pulling up even further, exposing her belly, and his hands somewhere around her exposed navel, shaking.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am. But -," he settled her down on her feet a little forcefully and turned away from her covering his face in his hands. Jo readjusted her sweatshirt into place, a small blush covering her face. She turned in anger and mild embarrassment to lash out at the boy only to see his face hidden and his ears beat red muttering something about being strong. "Well, that was a waste of time." She turned back to look up at the box up ahead. Then, the obvious dawned on her. She turned to look around for a stepping stool. The boy companion, now over his episode, was watching quietly from his position. He understood what she needed and ventured to the next aisle over. He returned a moment later with the stool setting in front of Jo with a proud smile on his face to which Jo rolled her eyes to.

"Uh, thanks. I'll take it from here. Hey!"

"No need ma'am, I'll get it for you," the boy quickly over the step despite Jo's outburst. "Was it this one?" He asked gesturing to the box.

Jo crossed her arms to that, "yeah, but- " she was cut off when the boy pulled out the box but failed to to block the boxes on top from sliding along with it. Jo managed to back away but the poor boy was caught up the avalanche of boxes. He stumbled back and consequently sided off the stool with an unmanly scream, arms flailing sporadically.

"Oh shit!" Jo was quick to react and grabbed the boy's outreached hand and pulled him towards herself. At that moment, the water from Jo's shoe caused her to slip and lose balance from the thrust of bricks momentum. Jo and the boy fell backwards with dual yelps with both of them managing to turn and land on their sides. They both groaned and winced in mild pain.

Jo reopened her eyes to see the other boy's face dangerously close to her own and…was that his hand on her arm? Already having her personal space violated by this guy way more than she can already deal with, shoved his face away and quickly sat up and tended to rubbing her injured arm.

"Jeez, some large and in charge guy you are. You couldn't even get a girl a pair of shoes."

"I'm so sorry, that's never happened before," the boy said also sitting up, clutching his head. "I'm usually more careful than that."

Jo turned to him raising an eyebrow unconvinced "Really?"

"Well…yeah! I mean, there was this one time when when we had to set up the christmas display last year and I, uh, sort of knocked it over a few customers…"

"Wow, you really are a klutz. Wait…'a few customers'? You work here?" Jo asked looking Crewcut over for any signs of employment to the store, but found none.

" Oh! Yes ma'am. Today's my day off, but there's a sale going on today on outdoor shoes and so I came here to buy a new pair of boots." he replied smiling a bit sheepishly. Jo rolled her eyes.

She stood up and turned to him with an extended hand. "Come on" The employee took hold and stood to a few inches taller than she did.

"Anyways, I really am sorry. Let me make it up to you. Um…" The employee stood thinking about any possibility, anything at all to make amends for his unfortunate events, but found none. But Jo was having none of it. "It's fine I guess, just get me my shoes so I can go."

"No-no! Wait! There has to be something." He bent to pick up Jo's box of shoes, still thinking on overdrive. Then it dawned on him. The proud smile returned to his face as the idea struck. Jo made a move to grab the box he now held out to her. But be didn't let go right away. "You can use my employee discount! Please ma'am, it's the least I could do to make up for my, uh, accident."

Jo stared at him contemplating actually accepting his offer. He stared back with pleading, grey eyes begging her to consider. If it wasn't for how pathetic the boy was she would have declined. "Allllriiight. I'll accept your pathetic apology already. If only for your sad attempt at puppy dog eyes." Jo said with the barest hint of a smirk.

He was ecstatic. Jo watched him begin cleaning up and restocking with valiant effort, the proud smile still coming into view every so often. She took this time to examine his frame. The almost too small white shirt that clung to him showed the strong, decent V-shape torso. His arms were built nicely for his age. His denim shorts exposed long legs complemented with healthy calve muscles. She could always appreciate an athletic build, but the real question was could his body's build prove that he could beat her in competition. Her track partner, Lightning, despite his own build could never beat her. She always won by a yard. He always defended himself saying that track was never really his thing anyways. Whatever.

"Ready?" He asked breaking the jockette's train of thought.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go, Crewcut."

"Please ma'am, call me Brick." he said saluting to her with proud eyes.

"…Brick. Okay"

"What's yours?" he asked almost too eagerly to Jo's liking.

"Jo. Now come on, I want to go home."

"Affirmative."

...

Brick tried to make small talk when they made their brief journey towards the checkout counter.

"So, uh, how did that happen to your shoe?"

"Eh. I was doing my morning run when I made this sharp turn and this piece of crap thing couldn't handle it. Guess I couldn't be too surprised. I did work them day in and day out this summer." He saw that she was awfully proud of that last statement.

"So you run? Me too! I also do my runs in the morning. 8K." He smiled his already familiar smile.

"8K, huh? Please. That's my me, you wouldn't be able to last under my routine." She challenged. He frowned.

"Oh, yeah? My entire run was uphill."

"Pfft, i could do that with my eyes shut, Crewcut!"

"I-I I could do that backwards! With earplugs!"

"What the hell. Why earplugs?" she asked stoping in her tracks to turn at him.

"I dunno!" he shot back out of sheer desperation.

Jo just looked at him. He was beginning to turn red from the embarrassment of his wayward arguments.

He wish he could have stopped himself from blabbering out like he did, but there was something about this girl that made him want to seem better than what he was.; he felt the need to impress her.

It was to his fortune that she actually began to smile at his antics. She soon turned that smile into an all out laugh.

"You're so weird! First with you're episode with the shoe boxes and now with your lame comebacks. Hehe, you're hysterical, Crewcut!" She continued walking forward laughing to herself. Brick however felt incredibly pleased at that moment. Not only could he make her laugh, but also by the lesser fact that he could make her laugh after a horrible morning for her, and to him it was good enough.

They went up to a spare cashier where a curly haired guy was playing his Nintendo DSi.

"Sam," Brick said leaning in towards his fellow employee, "you're not supposed to play your game during work"

The one named Sam looked up and shut the gaming device before replying to his friend.

"Oh, heh, sorry Brick. Hey, what are you doing here anyways? Your time sheet said you had the day off."

"I came for the shoe sale we had advertised for today. My mom said i should have more than one pair." He lifted the shoebox to emphasize his point.

"A shoe sale? Why would you want to spend money on that when you could have bought Dishonored?"

Jo chose this moment to butt in. She was expecting these two to mindlessly banter as they were if she didn't otherwise.

"Sam was it? Here, ring up these shoes and make sure to use Crewcut over here's employee discount."

"Brick's going to let you use his discount?" Sam asked eyeing Brick, perplexed.

Brick made a move to speak up until Jo intervened on his behalf. "Yeah. Sergeant Klutz here owes me." Jo answered for him smirking. Brick's gaze lowered to the floor completely embarrassed.

"Is it like what happened with the christmas display last year?" sam asked half jokingly to Brick.

Jo turned to look at Brickto gauge his reaction. She saw him look troubled in addition to his embarrassment. She couldn't help but feel a small formation of sympathy for him surface from the depths of her amusement.

"Yeah," he replied still staring at the ground, "it was sorta like that. Only Chris wasn't around to scold me and threaten my job."

Sam proceeded to check out Jo's purchase. All the while Jo stood with her weight on one foot trying her best to ignore Brick's now smiling face from the corner of her eye.

"Okay, that'll be $22.19"

As Jo reached into her back pocket for her money, Brick took hold of her arm saying "No need ma'am I'll pay for you. After all-"

"Nuh-uh, I don't think so Crewcut! My taking apologizes stops at money, I'm a little too proud for that." Jo pulled her arm away from his hold and continued to dig for a couple of bills. Brick backed off with a small pout on his face. 'Am I trying too hard? C'mon, McArthur, think! You should've known she wouldn't have accepted that. Stupid!' He mentally scolded himself.

Jo paid for her shoes and immediately switch out for her ruined pair.

"Well, thanks Brick. It's been a real slice." Those were Jo's parting words to the klutz of a boy as she headed to exit through the sliding doors.

"Oh. Uh, yeah! sure…" was all Brick managed while he was paying, watching her distance herself further.

"Dude, she was being sarcastic" said Sam. Brick, however, paid no mind for all of is thoughts was still on the girl with those purple eyes and headstrong attitude.

...

Jo walked out of the sports store relieved that her errand was taken care and now she could get back to track training. The rain outside wasn't a critical back turf for her run back home she had a hoodie on her sweatshirt after all. She did a few deep breaths and a few stretches to prepare, all the while gaining glances and stares of the people going in and out of the store.

Just as she was about to take off, she heard the recently familiar voice of none other than Brick.

"Do you need a ride?"

The sudden question made from behind her almost caused her trip over herself from surprise. He made a move to try and steady the girl but she swatted his hands away.

"Jeez, Crewcut, what are you some white knight or something? It's fine, I don't need a ride I walked here and I'll walk back it's no big deal."

"Are you sure Jo? It's raining and you could get sick?"

"Look," she began, turning to give Brick her full attention. "You've done enough for me already. It was only an accident. An accident that mostly affected you anyways. So why don't you forget about it and go your way and I'll go mine, eh, crewcut?"

Brick stared at her looking at first taken aback but then falling into disappointment. Jo stared back with nothing but the sound of the rainfall between them blocking out some of the tension. Looking at the boy she couldn't understand why he would keep offering his services to her. He already paid her back and yet he insists on offering more. She caved under that pathetic, kicked puppy gaze of his. Maybe it was a guilt thing. If he wanted to do this to clear his own conscience she might as well let him. At least that's what she thought were his intensions.

"ugh…alright fine. You can drive me home, but after that we never see each other again. Got it!"

His frown quickly flipped into the brightest smile she'd seen on him yet. He looked like he was about to take her hand but quickly stepped back. It was the ways of a gentleman to escort a woman by holding their hand. But he remembered that this was a girl who did not abide by such rules and did what she damn well wanted to do.

"I wish there was a jacket I could offer you to keep yourself dry Jo."

"pfft, please. It's just water. It's not like I spent hours working on my hair this morning."

"Oh, w-well I think your hair looks g-great." Brick said still trying to lighten the mood not realizing the mildly flirty nature of the statement. Jo herself was also oblivious to it.

"Whatever, it's just hair. But thanks I guess." Jo took a moment to reanalyze the statement. She had never had a guy compliment her hair. Or anything of her physical appearance for that matter; At least in a positive light. It felt nice for a change. She subconsciously ran her fingers through her hair thinking about it. The softest soft smile on her lips.

They had reached Brick's car. A used car that wasn't exactly in its heyday. It was obvious that his parents didn't buy the car for him, he had worked hard from hours of working and saved up for it himself and bought what he could afford.

"I don't want any funny business, crewcut. If we go down any alleyways or something, I swear to God." Jo warned. Although she really, _really_ didn't think the guy was capable of that, but he heard stories about incidents like these.

"Of course ma'am! I would never do that!" he pleaded to her with genuine sincerity. He was slightly appalled by the that statement, but took an understanding on where she came from.

"Just making sure," she half mocked before stepping into the passenger's seat.

...

The drive was awkward. At least to Brick. Jo was listening to her mp3 player and looking out the passenger window. He wanted to say something, get her to talk, about anything really. But where was he to start so as to not cause her to get angry or uncomfortable? He wanted to learn more about her. She was so different than any other girl he's seen. She had this…attraction to her that Brick couldn't help but be get pulled towards.

"Don't forget that turn, crewcut" Jo said gesturing towards the block up ahead. Brick obeyed, turning right into a strangely familiar Cul-de-sac.

"The house next to the one where that blonde girl is sitting under that tree from." Jo continued with a half-hearted wave of her hand.

Brick came to a stop where he was told. He looked anxiously in Jo's direction for any signs of a final interaction between the two of them. She took the time to wrap her earbuds around her mp3 and stuffing them in her sweatshirt pocket. She muttering a quick 'thanks' as she left the vehicle, not even looking at Brick as she did so. Brick said nothing despite all of the thoughts running through his mind for parting words.

Said blonde from Jo's directions watched the scene from under her willow tree. Jo continued to walk towards her doorstep and the occupant of the car, which had dropped her off, looked so distraught still staring at Jo's form. She waited until the car drove off, the same moment Jo entered her house, to take action. She abandoned her post and walked to the next house over to knock at the door. To her desire, it was Jo her answered. "What do you want Dawn" she sneered after a brief moment.

"Greetings Jo. I could tell from your aura you had a rather…interesting morning. I feel that it would be best if you chose to discuss it with me. You know, to let it all out." the petite blonde said with an ever-knowing smile.

"Look Dawn, you know your freaky aura reading crap weirds me out. What happened this morning is really nothing to talk about. So why don't you go sip some tea and gossip with your tree, okay."

"Come now, Jo. Don't you want to express your thoughts on that guy who dropped you off just now?"

"Who? Crewcut? Yeah, he's a klutz and a total dork who thinks I was some woman in distress."

"I have a feeling that's not all you want to share, Jo. Why don't we come into my house and resolve this over my best minted green tea?" Dawn beckoned already tugging on Jo's hand and leading out towards her own home. Despite Dawn's light hold on her own hand, Jo made no attempt to escape her grip. She wanted nothing more than to rest a bit then start on breaking her new running shoes in. But she knew Dawn would only continue begging throughout the day, even into the week for Jo to come discuss her problem with her; She's done it before. Now, she and Dawn weren't exactly friends. If anything they were well recognized acquaintances. Despite the fact that the two were both loners, what with Jo being a brute and Dawn being a wierdo, they didn't connect well with their interests. Instead they remained as they were: neighbors who would make a few exchanges, talk about their problems or good fortunes to bring each other up to speed and then move along with their day. Although, Dawn did take the extra step sometimes into trying to help Jo in resolving her problems if she felt they were severe enough. It just so happens that today was one of those days.

"Here you go. Drink up!" Dawn chirped when she set the mug next to Jo on the kitchen table.

"…thanks. Now, can we get this over with." Jo crossed her arms.

"Of course. Now, about this guy you interacted with today…do you know his name?"

"Brick."

"Brick. What did he do to make you say that he was, well, accident prone?"

Jo obliged to tell Dawn the full length run-in with Brick. Well, perhaps not the full length, she left out several instances including the ones about him lifting her up and the two falling backwards with each others faces within such close proximity. Dawn was listening inattentively to the story whilst sipping her tea. She smiled every so often during the telling of the incident. Mostly at Brick's parts.

"So he offered me a ride home and I said yes. Then you knocked on my door and dragged me here, so here I am"

"hmm. It seems to me that this Brick is a really nice guy, Jo. He sounds like he was really sorry for causing so much trouble."

"It was probably for the sake of me not reporting him to his manager and he would be out of job."

Dawn frowned. "You don't really believe that do you, Jo."

Jo glanced up from her rapidly cooling tea to look at Dawn's face, then looked down again. "Eh. I guess not. I mean he did seem genuinely sorry about the whole thing."

"I'm sure he was, Jo. He also sounds like he was really funny! The way he couldn't come up with a good comeback must have been a silly sight!" Dawn giggled

"Yeah, I guess he was. I laughed a little anyways"

"So he even likes running for pleasure just like you, Jo?"

"Heh, yeah, but I bet he doesn't go as long as he said he did. A dork like him would trip over his own legs." Jo smirked at her own statement, imagining the scene taking place.

"I was thinking, Jo…"

"About…?"

"Well, since you two could bond over sports and things like running, and he could make you laugh so naturally…"

"What are you getting at, fairy princess?"

"Well. Maybe you should make an effort to get to know him."

Jo facepalmed. "Dawn-"

"Hear me out, Jo. I think Brick would make a great friend for you. He's willing to treat you nice enough, he could join you on your weekend runs, and he can actually make you, Mary Jo Anderson, laugh at something that didn't involve emotionally or physically hurting someone. Honestly, Jo, I don't remember a time where you didn't laugh otherwise. And you know where he works. All you have to do is go down there and ask if he wants to hang out later or-"

"Gee, you sure are right Dawn. We could spend our days skipping in the streets together and with me laughing like like an idiot about how bad his comebacks are! Why, having Crewcut as a friend could change everything!"

Jo got up from her seat, scowling at the pouting blonde still in her seat.

"Jo-"

"Forget it! I have school in the morning."

Dawn heard the slam of her front door to the left of her.

"Oh, Jo. If only you had seen the look in his eyes when you got out of that car."

...

Jo spent the remainder of the day straining her body with running laps around the block and pounding the punching bag she had in her room. 'Dawn could be so stupid sometimes. I don't need friends. All they do is hold you back. Seriously, I would be relieved to never see Crewcut again. The dork.'


	2. Chapter 2

Monday:

It was tradition for Jo to run in the mornings no matter what condition and obstacle the weather held. The late fall's frosty wind was no time for the first period was approaching, so she decided to call the run quits, return home, and take off towards school.

She grabbed her keys from within her trademark grey hood, about to unlock the driver's side door, when she heard the sound of crunching leaves originating from the front lawn of Dawn's house. She already knew who it was the young aura whisperer and decided that the best course of action would be to try and reconcile for Dawn's mistreatment. Unfortunately, that plan didn't fall through; Jo stepped into the driver's seat and took off, but not before hearing a barely audible shoot of her name.

Jo arrived at school a fourth of an hour later with a grimace of simply seeing the educational building in view. Jo hated school. No, it wasn't the academics nor was it the the faculty and staff. It wasn't even her track team, although she did think they absolutely sucked and needed work in just about everything. No, the thing Jo hated about school was, of course, her fellow classmates. Since the start of puberty her interactions with others of her age has dwindled. While other girls developed into putting on make up and talking about boys, Jo stuck to leaving her face plain and untouched from any sorts of cosmetics and all she was interested were sports. As the guys developed, their interest in the girls Jo refused to grow into skyrocket, leaving Jo unnoticed and ultimately pushed into the the lowest ring of the social hierarchy: the loner. But none of that matters now; she's a senior now, grade 12, and will never see these kids again. But that didn't stop the teasing that followed her since the early years of secondary school.

She parked, locked her vehicle, and begrudgingly ventured towards the building. It didn't take long to see one of her nemesis gossiping loudly within a circle of her clique in the center of the narrow hallway. There was no way Jo was going to cross without a confrontation, but it's nothing new, she's done it before. It only took a few steps further for the group to notice her. An asian girl with fierce eyes and a rockin' body stepped forward all too eager to give the other a hard time.

"Hey, Jo. Looking fetch as always. I see that beard of yours is doing wonders for your looks. Another attempt to pick up the ladies, i see."

Jo smiled coyly back to the girl in front of her, eyeing her up and down before countering back with a rebuttal of her own. "Oh heather, I see becoming bulimic is really what Alejandro wanted from you after all. Oh, but Alejandro's not here is he, Heather." Jo knew she could hit the one weak spot Heather had from talking about the only man she ever managed to love, leaving her for her once best friend, Lindsay. Jo didn't want to stop there. "Or was it the over eating and constant vomiting that ultimately turned Alejandro away, I wonder."

Heather snapped. "Fuck off Lesbo!"

"You fuck off walking stick!"

"I could make your life miserable here!" Heather threatened with her head and torso tilted forward.

"You think calling me a 'lesbo' will make me back down? Ha! In your dreams 're gonna have to try harder than that."

"You know, if you died right now no one would care, and do you know why? It's because of your hideous face and obnoxious attitude. It's repulsing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this entire city hated you."

"Please, Heather. People 'care' about you because you're rich. It it wasn't for your money, you would be just another single-bill hooker."

"Sasquatch hermaphrodite freak!"

"Spoiled pig bitch!"

"Creep!"

"Skank!"

A friend of Heather's tried to intervene, no longer finding this encounter entertaining due to Jo's unwillingness to back down. "Heather, why don't we get going. It's almost time for-" "Shut it, Justin! I'm not going anywhere until I knock man-lady over here down a peg." The one named Justin backed off looking slightly annoyed.

"You should listen to him, Heather. I think I hear a ham sandwich just begging to be thrown up calling your name."

Heather didn't falter, only standing there with an extremely crossed expression. The momentary silence signaled for her clique to coo her into leaving, Heather silently complied, but not before turning her head and giving Jo one last snarky remark. "At least I have friends. That's something I know you'll never have"

Jo stood in the hall, the small crowd that gathered sometime during the two girl's confrontation now dispersing. For a moment, she felt the pain intended from that comment, feeling briefly weak. Her hands gripped into a fist and anger washed out what was the sad. She almost cried out for Heather to screw herself, but difficulty disowned the idea, for it would admit the pain of her words.

…

Jo went through the school day as best as she could. She had one class with Heather after lunch break; They both did their best to ignore each other. Although, she could see an occasional snare from her whenever the instructor had her back turned. Jo would just as easily smirk back with a kind of smug persona.

Once school was let out for the day, all Jo wanted to do was go home and take out all of her accumulated anger out on the punching bag which Jo will place a crudely drawn picture of Heather on. She spent all of first period drawing.

All of it sounded like an afternoon of fun. Jo was upbeat while power walking towards her parked vehicle. All of this joy came to a screeching halt when the attention of the student council president of St. Augustine High School, Courtney Diaz, dared to step up into Jo's vision. Courtney looked like she was about to back down despite her increasing distance between herself and Jo.

Jo shifted her point of direction ways to the right, but courtney intercepted quickly to stop right in front of the athlete.

Jo was already pissed after having her morning ruined by Heather, and Courtney, miss all work and no play, having a confrontation of her own with her was agitating. Seeing as how she didn't think she could get out of this without a confrontation, Jo had no choice but to get this exchange over with and be on her way. But by this time, her patience was already on the decline.

Courtney was the first to break the ice. "Hello, Jo. I've heard from the rumors this morning that you and Heather dished it out in the halls this morning."

"Yeah, Heather and I were just saying 'good morning' is all. You know how it is."

"Hmm. Well, the rumors also said that a punch was thrown, although no one knows for sure who. Some said it was you and others say it was Heather. So-"

"-So you wanted to know if I socked Heather." Jo said with a most amused smirk.

Courtney looked momentarily embarrassed before shifting into what Jo dubbed "Lawyer Mode".

"Of course I need to know! It's my duty as student council president to see that all disputes, rumors, and other negative banter between students are resolved."

"Well, then let me tell you the exactly how it went down; Heather and I got in each other's faces; no punch was thrown; not even an earring was taken off. Does that satisfy you, _President?" _Jo managed to keep the last bit of her patience without explosively defending herself. Courtney seemed to have an understanding, if slightly annoyed, expression.

Jo took Courtney's nod as the green light to continue heading to her car, but Courtney seemed to have another thing say.

"I know what you said to Heather, Jo." Jo frowned at that and narrowed her eyes with a scowl.

"One of Heather's friends told me. About Alejandro."

Jo continued her silent stance while Courtney put her hands on her hips as if she was some scolding parent and Jo was the disobedient child.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. Everyone knows about what happened between those too and how Heather went through those bulimic episodes as a result of it. I know you have this reputation of being a brute and all, but that was pretty low, even for you." Courtney swallowed before she continued. "I dislike Heather as much as everybody else, but calling out on something as dark as that was a low blow. She almost died for crying out loud."

"Then what am I supposed to do, huh? Just let her walk all over me? She can't expect to call me out on calling me a lesbian and not have a taste of her own medicine in the process. Besides, that happened over a year ago anyways. It's time to pack up and move on. "

"You're not getting it! This is like making a dead baby joke to a woman who miscarried! You know what…" Courtney pulled out and pen and pad out from her purse and jotted down.

"…I think it would be best if you took sensitivity training." she said handing the slip of paper out to Jo.

Jo couldn't believe her ears. Sensitivity training? Heather was the one to call her out and compare her to being a man and a lesbian, but Jo's the one to take up as the candidate for sensitivity training? Hell. No.

Courtney, however, remained oblivious to Jo's hand clutching at her backpack strap and gave further information about the slip she held out. "It's a student peer session that takes place twice a week in the counseling center in room 203 and-"

"I don't need this!" Jo took the slip, crunched it, and tossed it over Courtney's shoulder. "All we have to do is stay away from each other. You can't remained biassed just because Heather starts crying. She makes fun of me all the time and you don't see me complaining. So take your sensitivity training and shove it!"

Now angry and exasperated, Jo huffed and stomped away from the taken aback Courtney. She took off for her home several moments later. Courtney walked towards her own mode of transportation all the while recalling her 'conversation' with Jo. She thought about Heather and Alejandro and Jo's labeling her of being biassed. Maybe she was, she thought, for she knew what it was like to have the boy she thought she would spend the rest of her life with one day leave her for another. Maybe, she thought, she understood the pain all too much and, not wanting to see another, even if it was Heather, experience that pain even after the first experience subsided. She thought she could take a stand again the one who caused this pain, even if it wasn't against the significant other.

"Are you okay, Courtney?"

Courtney looked up from the handle of the driver's side door to the soft voice of a woodland fairy. Dawn stood behind Courtney with a sorrowful expression with her hands held in her chest.

"uh…" Courtney looked the smaller girl over, "Dawn, was it? You're in my volunteer group, right? Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" the girl managed to say with a strained smile.

Dawn wasn't fooled for a second. "I can see in your aura that you're experiencing an old pain. You should not dwell on the emotions of the past, for they will do nothing but hold you back."

Courtney looked puzzled at the girl now in front of her. Dawn extended out a hand on her shoulder before continuing. "Please find it in yourself to be strong, Courtney. After all you've done everything in your life without the aid of a anyone else. You've always been that way. I know that today's talk around school have brushed over old wounds, but please ignore them and continue to move ahead, okay?"

Courtney was at a loss. She was only barely letting the other's words sink in before said other continued."I'll make sure to talk to Jo. She's going through some things right now and needs to be handled differently that most of your other clients."

Before either said another word, a redhead with two pig tails and a brunette with spiky hair called out for Dawn. Dawn smiled to Courtney and waved goodbye before joining her two companions for her ride.

Courtney left as well, still thinking about the Blonde's words. She knew she wasn't able to abandon all of the memories she had with Duncan, good or bad, in one swoop. But looking back on how today's rumors had effected her, after all this time, she would be damned if she didn't try.

…

Jo spent the evening as normal; running laps, cardio, boxing the punching bag, and maybe a little bit of television and video games. All in an attempt to forget Heather and Courtney. And maybe Dawn. But mostly Heather and Courtney.

The days leading up until Friday were significantly better than the start of the week. None of the three made any comments towards each other. Jo was still on guard in the likelihood that Courtney would call her up to that counseling session. She was also on edge about which hallways Heather was lurking between periods. But of course, none of them crossed paths.

Despite the incidents on Monday, it was a decent week for Jo.

Then came Friday afternoon.

...

Friday:

The light drizzle in the afternoon was perfect for Jo. The temperature and refreshing moisture was ideal for a good run. She grabbed her mp3, and put on her sweatshirt before shouting to inform her parents that she was stepping out.

She stepped outside and breathed in the air. She failed to notice that Dawn was outside as well, although her head was tilted backwards with her eyes closed, arms outreached from the sides, in bliss from the cold moisture. Jo now took in Dawn's presence and as a result, rushed her usual stretches before the two could have a word with each other.

"Ah, Jo!"

So close. Jo abandoned her stretching and sped off the lawn into the streets of the Cul-de-sak with her hoodie on. "Nope!"

She ran out at top speed still hearing the sound of her name being called desperately by her strange, strange neighbor. She smiled to herself as she put on her headphones.

It was nearing twenty minutes into her run, a few blocks south of her own home, when the the battery from her mp3 suddenly gave out. "What? Stupid thing! I knew I should have gone name brand!" She flicked at the tiny device before shoving the it into her sweatshirt begrudgingly. 'There goes my music. Guess I'll have to cut this run short. Maybe five more minutes'.

It was during this time that a boy was leaving his house, about to begin his own running session. He noticed a hooded runner turning around at his dead end street. He was surprised to actually see another person out running in his part of the Cul-de-sak. With him living on a dead end street, he had no choice but to run the same way the hooded runner was and out into the further regions of the Cul-de-sak. This guy was actually going pretty fast, he thought.

Brick continued dashing towards the the end of the block when the sight of a small rectangular shape with what looked like wires around it lying on the ground caught his attention. He halted and bent down for further inspection to see that this mysterious object was actually an mp3 player. Perplexed, he picked the device up and connected the dots as he looked back up at the distant figure of the hooded runner ways in ahead of him. It made sense, runners and joggers typically carry around mp3s for entertainment during the run. He immediately made a dash for the owner up ahead, all aspirations set to returning the device to its designated owner.

"Excuse me!" He cried out. "I think you dropped this!" He continued to cause after the even faster runner ahead of him. Though said runner made no stop or turn to acknowledge that he heard him. Brick tried again "Excuse me, Sir! I think you dropped this!" Still, the runner paid no mind. 'maybe he doesn't know I'm talking to him' Brick reasoned to himself. "Sir!" He continued.

They were now turning the corner and Brick had yet to reach the guy in front of him. Little did he know that the one in front of him was purposefully making an effort to escape the one currently seeking her attention.

Jo had not noticed that her mp3 player was dropped. The hole within her sweatshirt was something she thought she didn't need to worry about for it's size was small enough to contain the majority of all the things she put in the pocket, including her mp3 player.

She still had yet to notice that it was missing when she heard a subtle, familiar voice. She ignored the cry out, thinking that it wasn't directed at her. It was when the voice shouted that he thought she dropped something is when she noticed that her mp3 was missing from the confines of her worn sweatshirt. That voice instantly ignited a flash of a face she hoped to forget. The face of the dork of a boy she met almost one week ago.

Her eyes went wide from the recognition. 'No' she thought, 'not him. Anything but Crewcut! I never wanted to see him again! Shoot!'.

She would sacrifice her mp3 than to be forced to interact with that boy again. The only option left to do in this situation was to run. Run and hope to either outrun him or wait for him to tire out. It was stupid, she knew. But the words Dawn said on that Sunday morning were replaying in her head. It surprised Jo how much she remembered actually. She remembered how Dawn said Brick was good for her. To be a friend who would take an interest in her interests. Jo couldn't deal with that. She had never really had a friend before, and because of that she didn't know how to treat one. She thought that if she screwed up once, just that once, that friend would get bored or take offense and leave her without another word. And the cycle would continue.

So onwards she continued to run. Not knowing where to go, she tried to retrace her steps back home where she could at least shut the door in his face. Wait, where was she? She tried to find anything familiar from her original route, but found none. The adrenaline was preventing her from thinking on her feet and recalling any familiarities. 'Great! Now where do i go from here?'.

She made a sudden turn into the next block out of sheer impulse. Her fear of being confronted was outweighing her anger with Brick. It was too late for her when she noticed that this block, just like the one where Brick was from, was a dead end.

'Now what' she thought. If she turned back now he would surely corner her, and if she kept going forward she would reach the dead end and would have no choice but to get cornered as well.

It couldn't be helped be either way; she reached the dead end. She stopped at the curve where she gasped for breath, her side beginning to hurt. 'Damn it! Why did this have to happen to me!'.

Brick, however, was relieved that the one he was pursuing finally stopped to take a break. He couldn't shout from the lack of breath from simply trying to keep up with him. But now that he stopped he could return the device. He too took a a few moments to catch his breath before speaking up.

"Excuse me, Sir, but I think you dropped this a few blocks back."

Jo still had her back turned to him, biding as much time as she could before she would have to turn and face him.

Brick tried again. "Um, Sir?" Brick tapped the shoulder of the slumped runner in front of him.

She wanted nothing more than to die or melt away from the scene just so she wouldn't have to be face to face with that klutz. But there was no fighting it now. Jo took one final breath before summing up all of her courage and turning to face the one known as Brick.

As Jo slowly turned to face him, Brick was ready and held out the device towards her with a polite smile. " I've been chasing you for two blocks. I thought you didn't hear me or something, heh, so I…I…" Brick's voice was cut off.

As the face turned into view, Brick's polite smile morphed into a gaping, dumbfounded expression. Beneath the shadow of the hoodie he could make out that hair, those lips, those eyes. It was her! The girl from from earlier!

"…Jo?" His arm retracted to his side, his mouth and eyes wide open.

Jo didn't know what to do or what to say. She just stood there rubbing her left arm in the now awkward silence. She had to get this over with as soon as possible, but her body and mind weren't helping. "Uh…" was all she was able to mutter within the minute of neither of them saying anything.

"Oh! Here…" Brick awkwardly handed the the mp3 over to Jo, his hand shaking. She muttered a quiet 'thanks' before returning to the silence.

Brick's mind was doing exactly what it was doing when he was interacting with her at the sports store: nothing. He wanted to engage her and try to not act like the dork he was nearly a week ago. 'Come on, McArthur, talk to her. You fantasized about all the conversation topics you could with her, but now you can't think of any of them!? Come one, think!'.

"Uh…Oh! I found out we live close by when I dropped you off the other day. What a coincidence, huh? Hehe..."

"Ye-yeah…"

"How…How have you been Jo?" Brick asked, offering a nervous smile to the girl.

"Uh…alright, I guess." She shifted her eyes to anything but the boy's beaming face.

Then a sudden memory reeled its ugly head from within Brick's mind. A memory that recalled Jo not wanting to see him again after they parted that last time. As many possibilities this moment held, as much as he didn't want to lose another chance to talk to her, he had to resort into backing off the girl and sadly abide by her request into never seeing her again. He frowned as he complied with what he knew was his obligation. "Oh…i guess now that my mission is done I'll return home now…"

As Brick made a steady, reluctant move to leave, Jo caused him to remain in place by speaking up. "Crewcut…" she began, still refusing to meet Brick's eyes.

Brick's ears perked up at the call of his nickname. "Yes, Jo." He leaned in a bit.

"Did you really think I was a guy?"

Brick frowned instantly as he too remembered calling out 'Sir'. "Uh…No! I-I mean yes!. But-But, It was the sweatshirt!" The poor boy exclaimed as a desperate attempt to mend that misunderstanding.

"No way! You totally did!" She folded her arms.

"No, Jo! I…I…" Jo watched his squirm under her accusing stare. She couldn't help but find it awfully amusing. He eventually conceded with a depressed "sorry".

She watched as he slumped in defeat, his hand rubbing his neck with a blush.

She punched his left shoulder with a smirk. "Come off it, Crewcut. You're not the first one to mistake me for a dude."

He rubbed the now wore shoulder before asking a question of his own. "You aren't mad?"

"Eh, I wouldn't say that. But I guess I could let this slide just this once. At least you know I'm a girl, unlike this other idiot I know."

"How could anyone not know you're a girl? I mean, they have to be blind to not see that you are indeed a lovely lady, Jo." Brick took a moment to realize what he said. Once he did, the blush from earlier tinted his face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say-."

"-Aw, You flatter me, Crewcut." Jo said while taking off her hoodie, oblivious to the nature of the flirtatious comment. "But I don't care about being all lady like and fragile. So thanks, but no thanks." She was surprised to notice that all anxiety and fear of conversing with Brick dispersed.

"Oh. Okay. Sorry, Jo." Brick too was beginning to relax under the softening atmosphere around them. "I never thought I would get to see you again, Jo. Especially after you told me that, uh, we would never speak again." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess it was just some cruel twist of fate or something."

"Cruel?" He asked jokingly.

"Lets's just say I don't have a good outlook with seeing the same people over and over again."

"It can't be that bad, could it, Jo?"

"You have no idea." She said with the faces of Heather and Courtney coming to mind.

"Sorry to hear about that."

"Forget it, Crewcut. It's nothing major."

Jo and Brick returned into silence with Brick staring at Jo, and Jo shifting her eyes as casually as she could from and away Brick's face. Brick was the one to eventually break the silence.

"I guess this is goodbye, Jo. I'll see you later, maybe. I still have my own exercise routine to complete."

With one moment of lingering his eyes on Jo's faces, Brick turned and began to jog his way back to his route out of the block. He felt he was pushing his luck if he chose to stay any longer with Jo and decided to take this as a victory and retreat before he did something stupid again. He began relay different scenarios their conversation could have turned in his head when he felt a rough pat on his back, stumbling him a bit. He slowed a bit to see Jo catching up to the right of him.

"Wanna jog with me back home, Crewcut?"

Brick smiled instantly at the offer. She must have forgotten about the the parting of ways she had installed between the two. 'She actually wants to spend time with me? _Me_?' He nodded his head in passionate affirmation. He continued to smile, as did she. They took off together side by side and left the block.

They stayed close together until they reached Jo's house. Although Jo didn't want to admit it, she has had more fun in those fifteen minutes of running with Brick than she's had in a good while. It really did turn out to be a a relaxing afternoon after all. Who would have thought all of this would have happened to her, and for the better.

They were a bit winded after the journey, both tried to catch their breath on Jo's property. Brick was smiling ear to ear while Jo was preoccupied with pulling a few stretches.

"You know, I should really thank you, Brick."

"R-really? For what Jo?"

"It's the first time I've had a half decent running partner that didn't completely suck. Lightning and Eva were always so prissy and reluctant to join me. So…thanks." Jo shrugged on the last word, not wanting Brick to know exactly how much his company meant to her.

"Any time, Jo!" Brick saluted. He was swelling with pride, satisfaction, and delight. He had actually accomplished what he thought would be impossible for him. Talking with a member of the opposite sex, especially one that he found an attraction to, wasn't always easy for him, even if he was raised to be a gentleman.

"Do you…do you mean that?" Jo questioned with a hint of suspicion embedded in her words.

"Oh course! I mean, if you want me to that is…"

"I think I'd like that. That is, so long as you can keep up, Crewcut." She punched the same shoulder again as a confirmation of their newly established partnership. Brick took it in stride as best as he could.

"Come on, I'll get you a Gatorade." Jo escorted Brick into her house for the refreshment before sending him on his way. Brick waved all the while Jo was standing at the door watching him go. 'What a weird guy' she thought when she closed the door. 'But he's not all bad. In fact was kind of fun'. Jo shook her head at that last thought.

Jo was so preoccupied with Brick when she arrived home that she failed to notice the pulled curtains of the next house over. A curious Dawn, fascinated by the scene that played out between the two, watched and analyzed and plotted what her next move was to be concerning the complicated mind that was Jo.


	3. Chapter 3

Brick sighed under the labor of his work. He and Sam were busy working late night stocking and all the while Sam was rattling on about his newfound girlfriend of two months, Dakota Milton, who, if he could be so bold to say, was out of Sam's league. All this talk about the things they did and what they had in common lead Brick's mind back to Jo. The events that occurred that weekend still plagued him with his own scenarios of what he would've done differently. But in the end he did come out with a scheduled chance to see Jo again, even if it was only for her own gains. It was a gift from God that Jo even considered Brick's offer as her running mate.

It was arranged that the two would meet up thirty minutes before dawn every Saturday and Sunday and attempt to beat Jo's time. Jo said that having someone who could at least come close to running neck-and-neck with her should motivate her enough to do so. Brick saw no harm in that and gave a personal pledge to himself to use this opportunity to get to know Jo on some higher level.

Brick was interrupted from his thoughts by a pat on his left shoulder. "You okay, Brick? Something got you down or something?" asked his chubby coworker.

"Hmm? Oh. No, I was just thinking about someone is all."

"Wouldn't be about a girl or something would it?" Sam questioned in a jest. Brick jolted straight up at that, shock and mild horror written on his face, mostly due to Sam's hitting the nail on the head. "Uh...It is actually."

Sam strayed a bit from opening the next box of merchandise, eager to hear a now livid social life consisting of the opposite sex coming from the formerly asexual cadet. "Really? Anyone I know? Is she a gamer?"

"Well-"

"Is she anything like that real angry girl from like a week ago? You know, the one with that torn sneaker? Heh-heh."

Brick momentarily recalled the image of Jo on that day, subconsciously smiling to himself thinking about it. 'She can get pretty angry' he thought. Before he could actually confirm the question, Sam came up with an idea. "You two should join us on an outing like a movie for something."

"I don't know if she'll be up to that, Sam." Brick couldn't help but imagined Jo at a movie theatre. 'She would probably demand why the price for popcorn is so high right in the face of some defenseless employee. Then when we have to find a decent seat she would probably command the ones at the top to scram elsewhere. She may even go as far as to comment on the preppy nature of whatever girl is in the scene'.

"She's not much of a sit down and watch kind of girl. Besides, I only just met her and I don't want to scare her off or something with something bordering on a double date."

"It totally won't won't be. It's just, you know, a way for you two to get to know each other better. It's just like in Sims. How else can you gain social points without interacting and reaching a status with them?

"I don't know…"

"Common, it won't be too bad. I'll be there, and you'll get to meet Dakota, and we'll even watch your pick of the movie, how's that?"

"Well, the things is…" Brick rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit strained. "I've never been with a girl before. Not even as friends. I wouldn't know what to do and I'm not good at small talk."

"Well, I'm pretty knew at this too, Brick. It won't be much but I'll be there to help if you need it."

"I'll think about it, Sam. But no promises."

"Sure, man. Just remember to think about."

The two continued their labor in silence. No matter how much Brick wanted to ask Jo to the outing he knew she would never agree to it. The idea of an outing was casted aside. For now.

"Hey Brick. Did I ever tell you that Dakota has_ the_ most adorable nostrils."

Brick couldn't help but raise the right side of his unibrow.

…

So far Jo's good luck with avoiding an exchange between Courtney, Dawn, and Heather was holding strong. Her scowling has reduced to only half a day and she even spared Lightning a few minutes of taunting. Too bad for her, Dawn would be the one to break this routine and bring forth Jo's familiar frustration.

It happened during Jo's lunch hour. She was sitting down on the second floor hallway by herself, centimeters away from taking a bite out of her sub sandwich when Dawn plumped herself down across from her with her bamboo bento box. Jo lowered her sandwich and glared at the new arrival who was currently avoiding her gaze.

"What do you think you're doing, my dear neighbor?" Jo questioned in suspicion.

" I thought It would be nice if you had company today. That's all." Dawn said all too transparent on an ulterior motive.

"Mm hmm. Right. And do you really expect me to believe that? After all that's happened you're not up for an interrogation? Please."

"Nope. It's my utmost honesty when I say that I will not interrogate you, as you have put it."

Jo didn't buy it for a second. She's known Dawn long enough to know that she was always nominee for Jo damage control, but decided to let things play out.

"How have classes been?" Dawn asked bringing a cherry tomato up to lips.

"Oh, you know." Jo took a bite of her own meal. "Boring, so-so, another day another dollar, whatever, take your pick." Another bite.

"I'm glad to hear it. " Dawn knew Jo wasn't trying to be mean. It was just the way their exchanges went, she was used to it. "Anything new happen to you?"

'This is it' Jo thought, 'I knew she was trying to get something out of me. Utmost honesty my ass'.

" I knew it!" Jo jumped up and pointed an accusing finger in Dawn's face. "I knew you wanted to interrogate me about what happened with those two toothpicks. Leave it to fairy princess: crime scene investigator to want to be the one to who gets the facts!"

Dawn remained strong in her composer, only blinking rapidly at the finger in the center of her nose. "Come now, Jo. I merely asked a simple question not at all pertaining to anything in particular."

"Don't give me that. What else could I answer with a question like that when you know something went down last week."

"Jo, I'm not-"

"You_ are_! So just drop it!" She began packing away, preparing for her departure away from the petit girl. "I'm leaving. I don't have time for this"

"I guess I'll have to get right to the point then."

Jo seized with her packing and turned abruptly to the other. "What?"

"Sit down, Jo and I'll tell you."

"Dawn, I swear to god-"

"Jo." Dawn set aside her bento box. "Sit. Down." She emphasized each word with a point to the ground. Jo complied, huffing, and adjusted herself with one knee up to her chest and the other extended. "Spill it, princess, I don't have all day."

"Very well. Jo…" She paused as if to add dramatic effect to which Jo mentally rolled her eyes to. "You are to undergo peer counseling."

"Nope."

Dawn made a move to carry on but Jo grabbed the rest of her things and power walked towards the direction of the stairways.

" Jo, please let me explain!"

"Nope. I'm out."

"Jo!"

"Nooope"

"But you have to! They'll suspend you if you don't! "

"What!" She whipped around just before reaching the rails. "They can't do that!"

"But they will Jo unless you agree to talk with a peer counselor. Courtney reported you after your quarrel with Heather."

"You gotta be kidding me! And what about Heather? Tell me I'm not the only one who has to 'become one with my emotions'."

"Believe me, Heather will also get her own time with the counseling center just as you are."

Jo groaned with a hand over her forehead feeling the telltale signs of a migraine coming on. "But fear not, Jo!" Jo took a peak at the shorter girl who was now smiling with encouragement and clapping her hands lightly together. "I volunteered myself to be your counselor! That way it should be easier for you to express what's been upsetting you enough to cause such negative emotions on yourself and others. I have known you during all of my youth after all."

"Wait. You're going to be my peer counselor?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"Because I want to." Dawn was curious as to where Jo was going with this. Her aura was expressing her flaring caution and rage. "Because I think it's for the best."

"The best for everyone else right?"

"And for you. I know if you can release this anger that burdens you, you will be happier in life."

"I _am_ happy, _Dawn_. And besides, it's not like we're actually gonna be serious are we? You're just gonna write up that I learn to be as fluffy as a lamb and that I did my time and I'll be on my way, right?"

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

"Oh come on! Just this once could you do things my way?"

"I'm sorry, but I think this will really be the best opportunity to help amend what burdens you. So-"

"So! If you don't do what I say I'll pummel you." Jo raised her left fist in between herself and Dawn.

"I don't think you will, Jo." Dawn stood defiantly over the hovering, menacing Jo. Both looking into the eyes of the other with their own fire. For half a dozen seconds they stood their ground to each other. Each mentally trying to subdue the other.

"...Dammit."

Dawn giggled at Jo's deflated anger. "I knew you wouldn't hurt me. Ow!" She rubbed the spot on her upper arm where Jo had just pinched her.

"That's for wasting my lunch hour."

"Oh. Sorry."

Jo proceeded to descend down the stairs with Dawn a few steps behind her.

"So. When do I have to go?" Jo bitterly questioned.

"You will begin attending every monday after school beginning next week and you won't be released until I say you're done."

"How do I know if you aren't going to hold me until the end of the year?"

"I assure you. I won't torment you all the way through the school year. You have my word."

Jo eyed her with suspicion, watching Dawn who was giving her best innocent look.

"You better not. Or I really will pummel you."

…

Dawn wanted so badly to talk with Jo about Brick but felt that in doing so will be pushing her luck with Jo's anger. She had to approach this carefully if she wanted things to go right. She saw the good and honesty in Brick's aura and knew that these qualities in the form of someone who carries similar interests as Jo would make a great friend for her.

She didn't wish to medal too much into this. Alternatively, she decided to let things unravel naturally. The best she could do now were monday after school sessions which, she hoped, would be enough into guiding Jo in a proper direction.

…

The weekend was finally here. Saturday morning, roughly thirty minutes before the break of dawn. Jo finished what egg and oatmeal she hat left before putting on her trademark grey sweatshirt and grabbing her keys and stop watch and setting out to Brick's house.

She was feeling mysteriously enthusiastic about this morning for some reason. Could be that she was ecstatic to be able to run on the weekend again. Or it could have been that she felt more energized than usual. Whatever it was she was letting it wash over her.

She was doing a light warm-up jog towards his house when she saw Brick ways away walking briskly towards her direction. The reached within talking distance when Jo spoke up.

"I thought I told you I was going to be the one to be doing the picking up."

"Yeah, about that. You see it's the role of a gentleman to always be the escort. So it was my responsibility to come to your house and, well, escort you." He smiled something proud to Jo's poker face.

"It's cool. This time I mean. Next time I'll be the escort because I'm the one who asked you to do this."

"I volunteered."

"And I accepted, ergo I'm the escort."

"No arguing with that logic." Brick chuckled.

"And what are you wearing? We're not in the army, Brick-for-brains" Jo asked, appalled.

"What? This?" He tugged at his light grey shirt followed by a stare down at his cargo pants. "It's what I always wear when I exercise.

"Exercise? What we're going to be doing isn't going to be a yoga session."

…

"Keeping up better than I expected!" Jo commented when the two reached the fifteen minute mark. "But there's no point in having you if I'm still in front. Some motivation you are."

"It's motivation you want, huh?" Brick was about an arm's length away from his taunting trainee. Truth be told be was having fun with this but at this rate he was loosing energy faster than he would have like and that was causing him to lose pace. So to keep his role he would give it all he's got. "Alright!" He shut his eyes and gave his remaining strength towards the running force of his legs.

He was now closing the gap between them and within moments, passing Jo into taking the lead.

"How's that!"

Jo growled and gave effort into her running normally reserved for competition.

"Still not good enough, Jo!" He wheezed from his position up front.

"Shut. Up. Dork." She was gasping at this point, surprised that Brick had this in him. Speaking of which, she's never seen him this. He's not that awkward little dork like he was minutes ago. She kinda liked it.

They were now running neck-to-neck. They exchanged competitive glances at each other every now and again.

"Gonna. Beat. You." Jo spoke through a drying mouth.

"Then do it!" was Brick's rebuttal.

Minutes later Jo was beginning to take the lead again, but only just barely.

"That's it! Keep that up a little longer!" Brick called sounding like he was going to pass out.

Jo mentally heeded his words of encouragement just enough to survive the equivalent running length of six field laps.

...

Brick was sweating with all the force of a leaking pipe. The nausea kept breaching him to vomiting. His thighs and calves were sore beyond belief. He looked up to see Jo, who was sweating significantly less than he was, looking at the stop watch strapped around her neck looking pleased with herself.

The sun was now beginning to warm mid-autumn's brisk air. Jo was fanning herself while trying to regain her lost breath.

"You look like you're about to collapse" she commented eyeing Brick's state with utmost amusement.

"I will never. Doubt. You're word. Of warning. Again." Came the wheezing reply.

"Good to know." She chuckled to the slouching Brick and roughly patting his back.

"Did you reach your time?" he managed to ask.

"Mm, No. But I came close. If I keep this up I'll be able to place lowest time no problem. Ugh, I'm so hot in this thing." Jo tugged up the helm of her sweatshirt to pull it off and feel the breeze.

To Brick it happened all in slow motion. The tank top clung to her, raising up a bit from the pull of the sweat shirt. He could see the definite curves of her torso, healthy from hours of training. He saw her boobs bounce back down with a whistle necklace resting between them adding to their perkiness. He really liked her hair messy like that too.

"You okay Brickhouse? You look a little too red. Was my routine really that much for you?" She smirked.

"Wha- No! I mean- I'm good. Just catching my breath…" Brick thanked the gods he had an excuse for his flushed face.

Jo made to sit on the side walk to which Brick joined her, making sure to keep his distance. "Good. I think that'll do this week. Looks like you're going to be sore tomorrow if you're this worked up."

"Yeah, looks that way. But trust me, I'll be here same time tomorrow, Jo." He smiled that proud smile of his.

"Yeah, yeah, you say that. Lets just see you try to get out of bed tomorrow."

"I wouldn't be able to call myself a cadet if I couldn't."

"Yeah, about this cadet thing, why do you flaunt it around like that? I mean, not everyone who's within range should know you have interest in the military."

Brick was quick to defend himself. "It's my code. I've lived by it since I could remember. I don't know, it's just the way i see myself…If it bothers you..."

"It's just a bit juvenile. Like a kid playing soldier. And it's not like you're in bootcamp or anything. This is the real world - where people act normal. Well, at least as normal as they can get."

Brick frowned and creased his brow at the turn of the conversation. He was anxious for Jo to like him and he was already making a mockery of himself.

"I guess it's sort of a lifestyle is all. Although some guys at the academy did tease me a little about it when I was younger."

"Academy?"

"McCallie private academy. The one ways out of town."

"And you used to get teased about you're cadet code thing or whatever? You probably didn't deserve but you did have it coming. People in this city do like to pick on others different than what they are." Jo scowled at subtle memories of running away from girls bullying her back when.

"Yeah they do. At least until you look like you can defend yourself." He grinned and flexed his arms up, obviously proud of himself for growing into a strong body and surviving his bullying.

"I know what you mean there, Brickhouse." She popped her knuckles and smirked when she recalled all the revenge punches she got away with. "Bitches had it comin'. At least you know you're better than they are. Especially you. You wouldn't hurt a fly."

Brick was sure that was somewhat of an insult but couldn't keep the smile he now wore contained.

"Anyways… I'm gonna go home and wash up. See ya." Jo tied her sweatshirt around her waist while she stood to leave.

"Wait Jo!" Brick too arose from his spot. 'Alright, McArthur it's now or never. Just spit it out'. "How about Breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" she asked with a small look of surprise.

"Y-Yeah. Breakfast." He beamed at her frowning face, her eyes still reflecting her dubious intents.

"With you?"

"Yes, with me." Brick felt a surge of satisfaction when he said that. "Unless you don't want to…which is fine of course-"

"Sure."

Brick swore his heart froze. Mouth agape and eyes wide he stare at the girl in front of him desperate to ask for her to repeat her uttered words but finding no voice to do so.

"But you're buying." She finished with a tone of command but with the display of a smirk.

"uh…of course!" Thank the gods he found his voice when he did.

"I still wanna go home and clean up though. So I'll see you at your place, ok." "Alright. I'll walk you ho-"

"And you're not walking me home."

He grinned, already expecting her decline but taking his chances none the less before saluting and taking off towards his own home.


	4. Chapter 4

Jo entered the confines of her home to hear the sound of a football match blaring from the living room's plasma television to the right of her.

"That you, Jo?" came the gruff voice of the occupant sitting in a recliner. He muted the television and turned his beefy self towards Jo, a blonde man with choppy hair and the slightest hint of a receding hairline.

"Yeah, dad it's me. Good news I managed to trim my time closer to my- our goal by thirty-five seconds. Not bad eh, commander."

"Not bad, not bad heh you know you have to do even better than that if you want that scholarship." He smiled at her but Jo knew he was totally serious.

"I know that. That's why I got this one guy to help me out with that."

"That lightning guy? Didn't think he had it in 'em. What with a scream that sounds like your mother's when she sees a spider in the sink sha-please." The father of the jockette known as Robert rolled his eyes at recalling lightning's cry.

"Actually it's this other guy I just met. Brick. In fact he's buying me breakfast so I'm just going to wash up a little and head out with him."

"Out? Like…a date?" Robert grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at his athletic daughter, watching her look from confused to shocked to incredulous.

"Wha-Ew! Dad!"

"Is he your type?"

"I'm going upstairs, dad. This conversation is over."

"Will he make me a good son? Is he as big as I was when I was his age? He's not a wimp is he?"

"Forget I even said anything! Just…go back to your game!"

"I'm just glad you're seeing someone is all."

"Dad I'm not _seeing _anyone. It's just breakfast and this will only happen once, okay."

"Whatever you say, Jo-Jo." was his last remark to the distancing jockette.

Jo slammed the door to her room with a little more force than necessary, a bit embarrassed at her father's remarks towards her dating life. She didn't need a boy in her life. All that matters now is to place in the fastest time and win that scholarship. And even if she was to date she could do way better than Brick. The little dweeb.

…

Jo took the family car to Brick's house and parked out front of the residence.

As she approached the door Jo was in a mini-conflict at either to knock on the door or ring the doorbell. She stood there only half-awkwardly with a raised hand hovering back and forth between the two. She made up her mind to ring but before her finger even reached the button the door opened. There stood a woman only a few centimeters taller than Jo. She had shoulder length auburn hair and shared brick's eye color. She looked to be in her late thirties -still beautiful but with the hint of a motherly essence.

The woman smiled at Jo who in turn looked at a loss - still gauging mother McArthur. "You must be Jo" she began in a warm, welcoming fragrance.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Jo. So…is Brick ready yet?"

"Oh, he's upstairs. I guess he isn't ready yet." She turned to look upstairs, wearing a knowing smile on her face.

'Still? It's been twenty minutes. You'd think a cadet would have punctuality at the top of their list.' Jo mentally fumed.

"But I'm sure he'll be right out. He's probably trying to be as fresh as he can. He's taking a girl out to eat after all."

"Look, it's not a date or anything. I'm just hungry and he offered." She shrugged on her words. Mother McArthur whom we'll call Anne lowered her smile a tad before raising it again. "Well, he' taking this very seriously. Whatever this is. Come, have some tea while you wait." Jo put up no fuss as she followed Anne into their kitchen, a room so clean and straight in it's country style knick-knacks, utensils, and containers she was surprised the kitchen went on used. They sat opposite of each other; Anne with an upright posture and Jo leaning back a bit with her left arm draped over the chair.

"You know he's been talking about you for a little over a week now i believe."

"Who me? Yeah right. What's he saying, stuff about how I crashed his work place and stuff?"

"No, none of that. Although he did tell me about how you two first met." Anne smiled, thoroughly amused and on the verge of a light laugh. "Yes, he tells me about how 'Jo is something else, mom' and 'Jo isn't like other girls, mom'."

"He said that?" Jo asked completely unexpected, the tone of the question encouraging Anne to carry on.

"Mm hmm. It's a shame you two don't hang out more often. Brick has quite the adventurous schedule."

"I think he only said those things because I'm probably the only physically active girl he's seen, that's nothing special, really. He should go to a gym more often, you'll see girls working their legs all the time. And did he ever tell you that he thought I was a dude? Plus we're just training buddies and this breakfast thing is a one time deal." Jo shrugged at the end of her ramble.

Anne turned to a look of concern and about to speak again but Jo got up from her seat. "I'm gonna go check up on him. Gettin' really hungry."

"Sure! First door on your right."

Jo gave a muttered thanks before ascending the flight of stairs towards Brick's room. 'His mom is actually pretty normal. Must have gotten all of his dorkiness from his dad then' Jo pondered.

The door was barely open. Enough so that a hand could slip through, and at this point Jo just wanted to go eat and rest up for the day's further activities. She flew the door open-all too stealthy- and seeing the contents of the room: a plain full-sized bed, a long stand dresser with photos and frames on top of it, dumbbells, a few stacked books and movies in the corner, and a naked Brick McArthur.

At least naked for a fraction of a second, but to her it was in slow motion. Brick had his back turned towards Jo and the moment she walked in on him was the very moment he was pulling on a fresh pair of boxer briefs. Jo continued to stare as if in some sort of trance at the cadet in front of her now bending now to the lowest drawer and pulling out two pairs of jeans from the drawer and holding them out in each arm at the helm as if inspecting them. He decided on a pair of faded greys and tossed the other aside for now. Jo saw as Brick lifted a toned leg up to insert it into the leg of the pair of jeans.

"Jo?" Brick turned to face her as if he sensed her presence.

Jo was shot back into reality and stared back at the cadet. Her own eyes growing in size.

"What are you doing here?" He asked completely unfazed by her intrusion while fitting himself into the jeans.

"What?! Me? I'm just here to get your ass to hurry up so I can freakin' eat!" Jo instantly became flustered when her saying the words 'your ass' recalled the literal viewing of said ass just moments beforehand.

"Sorry ma'am. I was trying to make good time."

"You had me waiting downstairs. Not very gentlemen of you." Jo was currently averting her gaze, still embarrassed, and staring at some spot to the left of her.

"So now you want me to be a gentlemen." He smiled playing along and oblivious to Jo's discomfort.

"Please, cadet. As if I need to be served hand and foot by someone who thought I was a dude."

"I said I was sorry. And it was the hoodie Jo! I swear!." He held his hands in defense.

"So not letting this go so long as you're training with me, Brickhouse. Get used to the guilt." Her confidence returned enough for her to look at Brick.

That still posed a challenge with Brick's finely sculpted torso still in view. "So put on a shirt and lets go already."

"Affirmative."

He complied as he strode towards his closet and took out two T's and repeating the process of 'inspection'. "Stripes or solid. Hmm."

"Geez, cadet. You're more than a girl than I am. Picking out outfits and what-not."

"I'm just trying to be fashionable." He said when he grinned at his decided T.

"Gonna be on Project Runway Canada. Brickhouse? Or would you prefer Canada's Next Top Model?" She couldn't help but tease him. And who wouldn't? The guy was just too much of a dork.

"If I'm lucky, why not both?" he countered smiling back at her. Jo couldn't help but laugh at that – the awkwardness subsiding faster than either had thought.

Jo turned to walk out, only mildly flustered from the whole situation. She took one last glance at Brick who was tying his boots to which Jo rolled her eyes to followed by a huff of air. And taking one swift glance at that bum.

...

Anne stood ways from the stairway rubbing her hands into a wash cloth.

"Are you alright Jo? You look a little distraught. It wasn't something Brick did was it? I'm sure whatever he did he didn't mean it."

"Nah, I'm alright. Just hungry is all." Jo confirmed whilst rubbing her left temple.

"He didn't mean to be late. He probably lost track of time. He can be a little forgetful sometimes. Just like his father." Anne's assuring smile returned but Jo wasn't paying her no mind. She kept her eyes shut as she stood there waiting for Brick.

She could already hear the heavy footsteps of the cadet descending down. "Sorry about that again, ma'am. You ready to go?"

Jo had to muster the remainder of her will power to not give a dead pin "duh" in front of his mother and instead chose to answer as straight forward as possible.

She smiled an all too fake smile when she said "Of course I am Brick. Now would you be a lamb and open the front door for me."

Brick could tell that she wasn't being serious but chose to play along.

"Of course! See you later, mom. Should be back by 1100 hours. Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine. You two enjoy your breakfast, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

"See you later Jo!" Anne called out to the one walking away.

"Bye." Jo called back.

When the entered Brick's beaten vehicle and took off towards whatever restaurant they were going to Jo reached straight for the radio in hopes of preventing an awkward silence. She was surprised to find the CD he had on before her changing to radio was a metal band.

"Didn't take you for a metalhead, brick-house. Not bad. Looks like you might have a tough bone in you after all."

"Hey, thanks Jo. I actually got into it by accident."

"What, the teenage angst phase or something?"

"Nope. Good adrenaline rush for workouts."

"Nice."

"So, uh, are we going to do the same thing tomorrow?"

"This breakfast is a one time deal."

"I was talking about the running..."

"Oh. No. Tomorrow we're going to do aerobics. That is if you can even get out of bed."

"I promise I will."

Jo turned to search the radio for a station. "If you say so, Brick. If you say so. But I know what I'm talking about."

…

The rest of the drive was filled with Jo teasing Brick about his him being a momma's boy and Brick doing his best to be a good sport about it. And somehow they ended up singing the lyrics to bad company for half the song. Brick laughing like an idiot and Jo smirking at the window.

Brick took Jo to a small loft near downtown. It was small enough for conversation but not large enough that it gets loud and suffocating.

He turned to gauze Jo's reaction to his decision but saw no hints on her face of neither approve or disapproval.

Brick guided the two of them to he best place out of earshot. Once seated Brick saw that Jo was glaring back at the direction of the entrance. He craned to look to spot whatever it was was causing Jo such discontent.

The waitress in her attire walked up to them from the general direction of Jo's glare. He looked back at Jo to see that her eyes followed the waitress' approach to their little table.

Then it hit him.

'She knows Zoey? Is that good or bad?'

"Oh! Hi Jo! Funny seeing you here. And you too Brick it's been a while." chirped the perky redhead. "You look buff! Even more than Scott now."

"Morning, ma'am. And thanks, I've worked really hard for it." He rubbed his right bicep with something liken to being smug from Jo's point of view."How're you and Mike doing?"

"We're great! He's really taking charge of his MPD and it's doing wonders for our relationship."

"Glad to hear it. You two deserve that after the whole Vito-Scott incident."

Whilst the two continued to chat mindlessly, all Jo was doing was sneering at the hipster girl at their table, and didn't take her eyes off of her even when Brick tried to catch Jo's gaze.

"I wasn't aware you two even knew each other." the redhead went on.

"Uh, yeah. We're sorta-"

"We're just really hungry and would like to eat." Interjected Jo from the outer realm of the two-way conversation. Zoey turned to look at her with a hint of fear in her eyes. The same went for Brick. "Please." She strained from the tension intensifying turn of events.

"Right. Sorry Jo." Zoey took down their drink orders and left two menus and pattered away but not before giving Brick a confused looked about his choice of breakfast mate.

Jo had her face hidden in the menu for she knew Brick had questions to ask about Zoey and herself. It took merely a few moments for Brick to approach the subject.

"So...how do you know Zoey?"

Jo flatly dropped the menu and sighed. "Fine. We go to the same school and share a lot of classes together, okay."

She sighed while vaguely reading the contents of the menu to ignore Brick's unwavering gaze.

Zoey dropped off their drinks.

"And she happens to drop Dawn, my neighbor, off at her home sometimes. Or rather her boyfriend drops her off. And then that's only because some kid named Cameron asks him to because he and Dawn are, like, library buddies or something."

"Oh." He turned his attention to play with his straw. "You've been good to her, right?"

"'Good to her' what is that?"

"She's a really nice girl Jo. Maybe a little bland but she doesn't deserve hostility."

This time Jo glanced up to glare at Brick – causing him to flinch a bit. "I'm not mean to her okay. At least no more so than I am with any other human being I don't care for. So there." She took a sip of her lemon water. Brick mimicked when she finished.

...

Jo didn't like it when her classmates were in proximity to her anywhere other than the confines of school walls. That's why she was so put off when she saw Zoey. Painful memories were the cause of all of this. Like that one time she was cornered in an alleyway by some juniors on her way home from school when she was a freshman. She knew it was stupid and probably juvenile in some way, but that's just how she felt. She didn't want to tell Brick that even if he asked.

But now she was thinking about something. Something she knew was there when the two of them saw eachother. She eyed the boy across from her accusingly before saying "You're in love with her aren't you?"

Brick's eyes shot open wide and he spurted half of his gulp and choked on the rest.

"What?!"

"Yeah! You're totally in love with her."

"I am not! How did you get that idea?" Brick's surprise and denial seemed genuine to Jo but she was pretty sure on her deduction.

"You're, like, overly protective of her and had those lovey-dovey eyes when she showed up."

"I haven't seen her in two years. I was surprised to see her here. And I wouldn't call it overly protective..."

"I was only joking, Brickhouse. Geez, didn't think you'd get that worked up! You should have seen the look on your face!" She tried to cover her failed deduction.

"That wan't funny Jo." Brick pouted into his menu while Jo rolled her eyes at his failure to laugh at himself.

Brick didn't want Jo to think that he was interested in what any other guy would call attractive. It would have only proved to Jo that all guys were a stereotype when it came to choosing the ideal girl.

"Oh, come off it. Don't be such a girl about it. I'm sure she's not your type anyways."

Jo reached to punch Brick's left shoulder to lift Brick's spirits. Brick did perk up after all but only curious as to what Jo thought his type was.

"And what type is that?"

"You know, the girls who wear camouflage short shorts and tops and knee-high combat boots who like to fire guns and do drills for fun."

Brick's face glowed with the shade of Dawn's cherry tomatoes. He took one long sip of his lemon water.

"Yup. That's definitely your type, Brickhouse. Look at you blush." Jo just couldn't get enough of causing Brick discomfort. He was just so much fun like this. She dipped her fingers in her drink to fling the water at his face.

"N-no I'm not! It's just-"

Brick counted himself lucky when Zoey arrived to take orders at just that moment. Maybe she was listening all along...

"So what may I get you?"

Jo's amusement died down. She awkwardly reached for the menu and hoping for Brick to get Zoey's attention. For some reason she felt guilty having been caught having fun by someone she particularly didn't care for.

Zoey looked from Brick to Jo then back again. "Maybe you need a little more time?"

Brick spoke up for them. "Maybe a few more minutes, yeah."

"I want a Dutch baby." Jo chimed in. Her self-assurance returning. "And some more water. No ice."

Zoey jotted down the order as fast as she could. Brick followed with his order.

…

Breakfast was mostly spent in silence, save for a few shortly lived topics of conversation. Although this may seem boring Jo would called it a success. No further awkwardness and troublesome events.

They were driving back to their neighborhood. Brick was trying to engage Jo in conversation, but Jo's feedback was maximized to a few words or a hum. Somewhere along the drive, however, her selective mutism seized.

"Hey, Brick."

"Yeah, Jo."

"Thanks for breakfast."

Brick took the moment to let the word of thanks sink in. It sounded so foreign coming from the take-no-prisoners girl he's come to favor. He felt warm and internally gleeful.

"Don't laugh, but it's been a while since I've ate with anyone other than my family." She turned to face him. "And actually enjoy it." she added as an after thought.

"Anytime, Jo."

"One time deal, Brickhouse."

"Offer's always on the table."

"If you say so." She turned back to stare out the window. "You know. My dad thought you were my boyfriend or something."

Brick whipped his head to her with his unibrow up his forehead. "Huh?" He swirved nearly getting off track.

"I know! Like, dad, I don't need a boyfriend. And Brick is...ugh. I have that track scholarship to get. That comes first."

"So track means a lot to you right now, huh?"

"More than you know."

"I'll help as much as I can. It's my code to help those in need."

"So you keep saying." She sighed to convey her disbelief.

"I mean it, Jo. Just call me when you need me. And when I'm not working. I live just a few blocks away after all."

"..."

"So...is there any chance you'll be looking to date after you're done?"

"Maybe. Doubt it. I don't know. If I find someone I like I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

They remained in silence after that. Long enough that they reached Brick's home without further discussion.

Jo hopped out of the vehicle as soon as they stopped in the driveway.

"I'll see you tomorrow Brickhouse. Make sure you get those legs massaged and soaked in warm water."

"Maybe you can do that for me!" Brick hollered from the driver's side of the vehicle.

Jo gave him this look as if to say "really?" followed by "did you really just say that?".

She walked to her own vehicle a short distance away without a word further. Ignition started and warmed up she began to take off towards her own home. It was to her attention that Brick ran up to her side. With a sigh she rolled down her window to see what the little dork wanted this time.

"Hey Jo. I forgot to get give you my phone number. You know just in case."

" Oh. Sure, I guess."

She dug through her pocket to retrieve the cellular device and handed it to Brick – he too handing his over.

"Oh, and by the way..." Brick began as he handed the phone back to her. "Would you, um, like to go to the movies with me and a friend?"

Jo didn't say anything. Just looked at him. She's never been invited to the movies before. Not even Dawn has asked if Jo ever wanted to go see a film together.

A text message chime broke her attention away from him. It said "We need to talk", from Dawn it seems, speak of the devil. Jo threw her head back in exasperation. 'I shouldn't have to see her until monday'.

"I don't think that's a good idea Brick." she answered once she was over her anguish.

Brick frowned. His unibrow scrunching up.

"That's alright. Maybe some other time." He stepped away from the car, the sudden (expected) disappointment slamming him down enough to make him feel the urge to distance himself from her.

She sped off without another word and completely unaware of Brick's disappointment.

Brick went inside his home. His mother greeting him followed by numerous questions about their 'date'. He reframed from answering any with the excuse of feeling sore from Jo's training and went to lie down in his room.

…

Noah was finishing up the last of his AP chemistry homework when he got the call. He knew very well who the number belonged to, but knew that she would try time and time again – in more extreme efforts – to get his attention.

He picked up the phone. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Hello~o Noah. How are you?" came the Heather's deathly sweet voice.

"Yeah, lets just get to the point here. What do you want."

"Is that anyway to treat the one who holds your deepest, darkest secret in front of my hand?"

"Still playing the blackmail game. Classy. Look, whatever it is I'm not interested, okay. Go find some other poor pawn to assist you."

"Have you forgotten how blackmail works?"

"Have you forgotten you're a total bitch."

"Can it. You know what it would do. You know s_he_ will find out if this little secret of yours goes viral. I know that will harm you more than anything else."

Noah couldn't help put think of Heather's words. The very thought that his crush finding out about that incident which occurred over a year ago would be social suicide and the loss of any chance he would have at trying to win her affection.

He bit his lower lip, thinking about any escape out of Heather's clutch. No results were found. He had no choice.

"What do you want."

"That's a good boy. Now... I need you to plan something for me. Something for that lesbian named Jo Sommer."

Author's Note:

**Thinking about cutting this fic but it's whatever you want.**


End file.
